2017 is the final year of production for the Chevrolet SS, which means General Motors will need a new car body to promote and race in the NASCAR Monster Energy Series next year. We guessed in early 2015 that the new Chevrolet Malibu body would eventually take over and after reading remarks made by Chevy’s U.S. vice president of motorsports Jim Campbell, we remain confident the Malibu nameplate will return to the race series.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Campbell said that its next NASCAR racecar body will likely be chosen based on the relevance on the vehicle and the relevance between the racetrack and the showroom. We assume this means Chevy wants to promote a car that will benefit from promotion in racing but also wouldn’t look entirely out of place on the track. The Malibu is a logical choice to promote via NASCAR seeing as it would race alongside the Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry, and with the recent debut of the Malibu Redline, we know Chevy isn’t afraid to dress the Malibu up in sportier attire.
“In general, we want to create relevance in anything we do in motorsports, NASCAR included. If you look the five series that Chevrolet is involved in – stock cars, open-wheel, drag racing, two sports car series – it’s about driving relevance from the showroom to the track, really making that connection,” Campbell told Motorsport in an interview. “That’s what is meaningful for us as a manufacturer. It’s not only the vehicle itself, it’s some of the technologies. As I mentioned earlier, some of the tools in which we prepare a production car can be honed over on the racing side and vice versa.”
“I think the key word there is just continuing to create relevance between the track and the showroom. We do it in every series. We’ll continue to do that going forward with NASCAR.”
Chevy will continue to run the Chevrolet SS NASCAR body for the remainder of the 2017 season.
Comments
Its sad how the Chevy SS is more relevant to the actual racecars than any of them with it being a production car with a pushrod V8, RWD and an optional manual. So Nascar will just be showcasing FWD mom cars from here on. But whatever. Hey…as long as it helps brand awareness and sales i guess.
I read that a Chevy car had already been sent, to Nascar for approve !!l
Tough call here as the Malibu fits the Series as the class calls for a mid size sedan and the other two are Bu competitors.
The problem is the Malibu is not relevant to racing or the NASCAR Race car.
The deal is GM has made it a point to race what they build as in RWD. The problem is we are unaware of a RWD replacement and that leaves only three things that can happen.
1 they go with the Malibu. But how is that relevant to racing?
2 they lobby NASCAR to use the Camaro in the Cup series.
3 The last choice is we get a mid sized RWD sedan to replace the Impala that is used. Not likely but the most relevant to racing and what is sold.
GM is in talks and the car shoul be on the track by June testing.
This is a real dance between GM and NASCAR as it is with every MFG when there is a model change. The mfg wants to get all they want and the series to keep all things even.
I expect the Bu as it is the most logical but I can still wish for Choices 2-3 as they are the most relevant
Honestly the best match would be to switch NASCAR from Chevy to Cadillac and call their car the CTS-V. In terms of alignment with a production car, it’s the best fit. It has the Chevy small block OHV V-8, it’s a mid-sized sedan, and it’s RWD. It’s the closest thing to a production NASCAR racer that GM offers. It’s a much better match than a FWD, Malibu that offers a transverse-mounted 2.0 turbo four as its top engine.
However, the NASCAR image would be horrible for Cadillac. They are trying to move away from being a blue collar luxury brand, or they say they are, and NASCAR would only reinforce that image.
“NASCAR” and “relevance” have little in common these days, in my opinion. Unfortunately. Exciting finish? Sure. Great drivers? Absolutely. Connection to the consumer automotive world? Almost none.
The best car to use now would be the Impala!
I hate the soccer mom race car set we have know. Ford, Chevy and Dodge have rear drive cars that would make for great NASCAR race cars. Hell Toyota would be able to re-badge a few Lexus’s to comply to rear wheel drive if needed. I for one would love to see Camaros, Mustangs, Chargers, Challenger, 300’s, Supras and any other high output rear drive cars race around NASCAR tracks. Growing up in the 70’s it was great to watch a race on Sunday and go to a Chevy dealer and buy what won( not that it was going to be as fast because the 70’s were slow cars) but you look like you had a NASCAR .